Bottom-discharging hopper closure assembly



Nov. 24, 1959 H. w. MULCAHY BOTTOM-DISCHARGING HOPPER CLOSURE ASSEMBLY Filed March 20, 1953,

3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inven/for: H ,15

BOTTOM-DISCHARGING HOPPER CLOSURE ASSEMBLY Harry W. Mulcahy, Chicago, 111., assignor, by mesne assigninents, to Enterprise Railway Equipment Company, Chicago, 111.

Application March 20, 1953, Serial No. 343,567

10 Claims. (Cl. 105250) This invention relates to improvements in bottom-discharging hopper closure assembly.

One object of the invention is to provide in a load discharging hopper railway car having a door or gate for closing the hopper discharge chute, simple and eflicient closure means for tightly sealing the discharge opening of the chute of the hopper outwardly or beyond the door to prevent, for sanitary purposes, the accumulation of dust, grit, dirt, and oil within the discharge end of the hopper, as well as on the door itself, to which these parts if exposed would otherwise be subjected in service.

A further object of the invention is to provide a closure means of the character indicated which is in the form of a slide which may be readily applied in closing and sealing position and is completely removable to provide for unobstructed flow of the material through the discharge opening of the hopper.

A still further object of the invention is to provide means for tightly closing and sealing the opening at the discharge end of the hopper of a railway car against the influx of foreign matter, such as dust, grit, dirt, and oil, comprising a sliding plate which is forced to and locked in closed position by lever actuated cam means and which carries elastic sealing strip material at its edge portions which is compressible to provide a tight sanitary seal for the hopper opening.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide a cam actuated sliding closure plate, as set forth in the preceding paragraph, comprising lever actuated cam means for sliding the plate in edgewise direction toward closed position, and at the same time forcing it flatwise against the walls defining the discharge opening of the chute.

Other objects of the invention will more clearly appear from the description and claims hereinafter followmg.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a top plan view of a portion of the hopper structure of a load discharge railway car,'illustrating my improvements in connection therewith.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view, corresponding substantially to the line 22 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view on an enlarged scale, corresponding substantially to the line 3--3 of Figure 4, with the parts in Figure 4 positioned as in Figures 1 and 2.

Figure 4 is a top plan view of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a plan view of the keeper shown in Figure 4, on a still further enlarged scale.

Figure 6 is a transverse, vertical sectional view, on an enlarged scale, through the end of the cam finger as shown in full lines in Figure 4, illustrating the keeper in elevation.

Figure 8 is a view on an enlarged scale, similar to Figure 2, partly broken away, illustrating-the closure plate in partly open position, and corresponding substantially to the line 8-8 of Figure 9.

Figure 9 is a top plan view of Figure 8, broken away.

Figure 10 is an elevational View of the pivot pin of the cam lever, and indicating the associated parts in dotted lines.

Figure 11 is a transverse, vertical sectional view, partly broken away, corresponding to the line 11 of Figure 8.

In said drawings, 10 indicates a portion of the hopper and adjacent structure of a railway car of the load discharging type. The hopper, which is indicated by 11, is of the bottom discharge type and is of rectangular, horizontal cross section, having laterally spaced side walls 12 and 13, and laterally spaced end walls 14 and 15. The discharge portion or mouth 16 of the hopper 11 is also of substantially rectangular outline, and as is the usual practice, the walls 14 and 15 are sloped to converge toward said opening of said mouth, while the wall 12 is vertically arranged, and the wall 13 is sloped in downward direction toward the wall 12. At the mouth 16 thereof, the hopper is provided with a closely fitting sliding door 17, which is guided on lengthwise extending supports 18-18 adjacent the hopper 11, anda ledge 19'p1ovided on the hopper structure proper. The door 17 is provided with a rack 20 on the underneath side with which meshes a pinion 21 carried on a rotatable shaft 22 which, as is well known, is manually actuated to slide the door 17 open and closed. As shown in Figure 2, the depending walls at the mouth of the hopper 11 extend to a level below the sliding door 17 and the sloped walls 13, 14, and 15 at the opening of the mouth 16 terminate in straight vertical wall portions 23, 24, and 25. At the opening of the mouth 16, the hopper 11 is provided with a horizontal, laterally outwardly projecting, peripheral flange 26 extending from the lower end of the wall 12 and the lower ends of the wall portions 23, 24, and 25 of said hopper. The portions of the peripheral flange 26, which extend from the wall 12 and the wall portion 24, are each provided with a short depending vertical section and a horizontal section extending inwardly from the vertical section, which sections together provide a depending lip member 27 on the wall 12 and a depending lip member '28 on the wall 24, and together with flange 26 form retaining grooves 29 and 30. As is well-known in this art, these depending lip members may be employed when the occasion arises, to attach a receptacle beneath the outlet of the hopper 11.

In carrying out my invention I provide means for tightly sealing the opening of the mouth 16 of the hopper 11, comprising a sliding closure plate A, a cam lever B carried by the plate, and a keeper C fixed to the hopper of the car.

The closure plate A is of substantially rectangular outline and of such a size as to overlap the peripheral flange 26 at the mouth of the hopper 11 at all sides of the opening of said mouth. When in applied closing position, the plate A has two adjacent sides thereof engaged, respectively, in the grooves 29 and 30 at the mouth of the hopper 11, as shown in Figures 2 and 3. To provide a tight seal, the plate A has a peripheral sealing gasket 31 arranged along its edge portions, the same being in the form of a continuous rubber strip located at the top side thereof and having depending sections 3232 overhanging the end edges of the plate along the sides thereof which are engaged in the grooves 29 and 3b. The rubber gasket 31, as well as its depending sections 32- B2 are preferably bonded to the plate A.

The combined thickness of the plate A and the superimposed rubber strip or gasket 31 is such that the plate and the attached gasket will pass freely into the grooves '29 and 3d. 1

The keeper C is in the form of a block mounted within the hopper 11 and fixed in the corner of the mouth 15 thereof formed by the wall portions 23 and 25 of said mouth, that is, diagonally opposite to the corner formed by the walls 12 and 14 which carry the channel-shaped portions 27 and 28, the keeper C being preferably welded in place, as indicated in Figures 1 and 4. The keeper C is of substantially triangular shape to properly fit in the corner between the wall portions 23 and 25 and has its outer face, which is indicated by 33 (see Figures 3 through 7), arranged diagonally. The keeper is provided with a horizontally disposed seat opening inwardly from the face 33 thereof. The seat 34 has a curved back wall 35, as shown in Figure 5. The bottom wall of the seat 34 is inclined, as shown in Figure 6, thereby providing a cam face 36 for a purpose hereinafter pointed out. As shown in Figures 2, 3, and 8, the bottom side of the keeper C is preferably flush with the underneath side of the peripheral flange 26 of the hopper 11.

The cam lever B, which is carried by the plate A, is disposed at the underneath side of the latter and is pivotally supported on said plate by a pivot pin 37 extending through the plate A and having its bottom end fixed to the inner end of the lever B, said bottom end being squared olf and fitted in a square opening in the lever. The projecting upper end portion of the pin has a laterally extending cam finger 33 fixed thereto, the finger 38 being provided with a square opening receiving the upper end of the pin which is squared. The cam finger 38 has its free end rounded and is of such a length that, when it is engaged with the curved wall 35 of the keeper C, the plate A is forced tightly into the grooves 29 and 30 at the mouth of the hopper, with the vertically disposed rubber gasket sections 3232 compressed tightly against the back walls of said grooves.

The bottom face 39 of the cam finger 38 at the tip thereof is bevelled off, as shown in Figure 6, to ride up on the cam face 36 of the keeper C and force the plate A upwardly, tightly against the flange 26 at the mouth of the hopper and compress the gasket 31 against said flange.

To seal the opening of the mouth :16 of the hopper 11, the lever B is first swung to the position shown in Figure 9, which corresponds to the dotted line position shown in Figure 4. The plate is then lifted upwardly while held in inclined position, as shown in Figure 8, and while so inclined engaged in the grooves 29 and Gil of the mouth 16 and brought to a substantial horizontal position with the cam finger 38 brought up to the level of the cam seat 34, so that it will enter the seat when rotated. With the plate A thus positioned, the lever B is swung from the position indicated by X in Figure 4, through the position indicated by Y, to the position indicated by Z, corresponding to the positions shown in Figures 1, 2, and 3, thereby camming the plate upwardly against the flange 26 of the hopper mouth by sliding movement of the finger 38 on the cam face 36 of the keeper C and forcing the plate into the grooves 29 and 30 by camming engagement of the end of said finger 38 with the curved back wall 35 of the seat 34 of said keeper. The rubber gasket 31 is highly compressed by this action of camming the plate in position to produce an air tight seal.

To hold the cam lever B in closed position, a spring clip 40 is preferably provided on the bottom side of the plate A, with which the lever interlocks when in closed pos1tion.

To remove the plate, the cam lever B is swung in a reverse direction from that hereinbefore described, thus unlocking the plate to permit the same to be manually removed, completely clear of the opening of the mouth of the hopper.

I claim:

1. In a hopper type railway car, a hopper having a 4 line delineated by three depending wall portions, coplanar flanges projecting transversely from the lower margins of said wall portions, depending portions on two adjacent of said flanges, said depending portions of the flanges having coplanar portions extending parallel to said corresponding flanges thereabove and forming with said last mentioned flanges communicating grooves opening inwardly toward said discharge mouth, an imperforate closure plate for closing off said mouth, said plate seating along the upper marginal edge portions thereof against the lower surfaces of said flanges thereabove and having two adjacent side edges thereof seated in said grooves, a pivot pin extending through and journaled in said plate adjacent the third side edge of said plate, a lever non-rotatably secured below said plate to the lower end of said pin to rotate it, a cam finger non-rotatably secured to and extending radially from the upper end of said pin above said plate and a fixed keeper mounted interiorly of said mouth adjacent said cam finger on the pin and adjacent the wall portion opposite the other two wall portions having said two adjacent flanges, said fixed keeper having a camming surface facing said last mentioned two wall portions and being engaged by the distal end of said cam finger on the pin to force said plate into said grooves.

2. The invention, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the camming surface facing said last mentioned two wall portions has a concave arcuate shape and the end surface of the cam finger engageable therewith has a convex arcuate shape.

3. The invention, as set forth in claim 1, wherein said fixed keeper has a first camming surface facing said last mentioned two wall portions and a second camming surface facing upwardly and being inclined and said cam finger having a distal end portion engageable with said first cam surface on the keeper and an underside portion on the distal end' of the cam finger engageable with said second cam surface on the fixed keeper to respectively force said plate into said grooves and upwardly against said flanges thereabove.

4. The invention, as set forth in claim 3, wherein a peripheral sealing gasket is bonded to the surface of the upper marginal edge portions of the plate and is engageable with the undersurfaces of the flanges thereabove.

5. The invention, as set forth in claim 4, wherein the sealing gasket overlaps the two adjacent side edges of the plate that seat in the grooves.

6. In a hopper type railway car, a hopper having a bottom discharge mouth of rectangular outline delineated by four depending wall portions, coplanar flanges projecting outwardly from the lower margins of said wall portions, depending portions on two adjacent of said flanges, said depending portions just mentioned having coplanar inwardly extending flanges parallel to and forming with said flanges thereabove, grooves opening inwardly toward said discharge mouth, a rectangular, imperforate closure plate forclosing and sealing off said month, said plate seating along the upper marginal edge portions thereof against the lower surfaces of said outwardly projecting flanges thereabove and having two adjacent side edges thereof in said grooves, a pivot pin extending at right angles through and journaled in said plate adjacent the intersection of the other two side edges thereof, a lever non-rotatably secured below said plate to the lower end of said pin to rotate it, a cam finger non-rotatably secured to, and extending radially from the upper end of said pin above said plate and a fixed keeper mounted interiorly of said mouth at the intersection of thewall portions thereof opposite said two adjacent flanges and having a camming surface facing the other two wall portions with which the distal end of said camxfinger is engageable to force said plate into said grooves.

7. The invention, as set forth in" claim 6, wherein the camming surface facing the other two wall portions has a concave arcuate .shape and the end surface of the 2,914,000 5 cam finger engageable therewith has a convex arcuate References Cited in the file of this patent shape.

8. The invention, as set forth in claim 6, wherein said UNITED STATES PATENTS fixed keeper has a first camming surface facing the said 220,045 W Sept 30, 1379 other two wall portions and an upwardly facing inclined 5 276,342 311111155163! P 1383 camming surface and said cam finger having a distal end 310,900 Maltble 20, 1885 portion engageable with said first cam surface on the 410,807 Rufihead P 1889 keeper and an underside portion on the distal end of the 478,748 Grosh July 12, 1392 cam finger engageable with said second cam surface on 707,858 Mendenhau 1902 the fixed keeper to respectively force said plate into said. 10 1,281,332 Ford 15, 1918 grooves and upwardly against said flanges thereabove. 1316713 Guay Sept- 1919 9. The invention, as set forth in claim 6, wherein a 1,533,862 Hyle P 1925 peripheral sealing gasket is bonded to the surface of the 1684983 Clark. Sept 1928 upper marginal edge portions of th plate and i en- 2,043,616 Hankms June 1936 gageable with the undersurfaces of the flanges thereabove, 15 2,393,932 Petme Jall- 29, 4

10. The invention, asset forth in claim 6, wherei the 2,630,768 Dorey M313 1953 sealing gasket overlaps the two adjacent side edges of the plate that seat in the grooves. I 

